GB 109: Book Recommendation: The Art of Learning

Today I’ve got a book recommendation for everyone. The book is called The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance. The author started out as a chess prodigy who parlayed his process of learning into Tai Chi and became a Tai Chi Champion.

• The process of learning, even for two things as different as a board game and a physical sport, are still very much the same. [01:25]
• In the book, he breaks down his process of becoming a championship chess player and then a Tai Chi champion. Nowadays, he’s also into mixed martial arts. [01:28]
• As an example, he talks about downward spirals: when you make a mistake, you often get on a tilt and keep messing up after that because of your frustration. You keep losing when you think you should be winning, and it affects the way you play. [01:48]
• Your mistakes keep compounding because instead of thinking about the next move, you’re thinking about the past, which puts you into a downward spiral. [02:23]
• He gave an example of a young lady in New York listening to music. She wasn’t paying attention to the street, and a biker miraculously managed to avoid her. But she got upset and started cussing out the biker. While she was paying attention to the biker, a taxi came and hit her and she flew 10 feet. [03:04]
  • This is a downward spiral: you have an opportunity to recover instead of dwelling on what just happened.
• He also talks about how mindfulness and meditation play a part in all of it. [04:00]
• Another thing he talks about is long thinking vs. short thinking. Short thinking is when you have to have absolute focus without any distractions. For example, I get really annoyed when people bother me; I have to have control of the situation. [04:13]
• But a person that’s thinking long is able to embrace what’s going on: whatever will be, will be. You have to embrace everything that’s going on around you so you’re not as tense anymore. A person who likes to have control can snap really easily, which can lead to a downward spiral. [04:47]
• I highly recommend this book. Also check out his podcast with Tem Ferriss. It’s really good. [05:16]

Resources from this episode:

• The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin
• Joshua Waitzkin & Tim Ferriss

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